Justice Secretary Chris Grayling plans to table a new bill called the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill, which he says will “slay ‘elf and safety’ and jobsworth culture” that can discourage community work.

Writing a blog on ConservativeHome today, Grayling said too often people who are doing the right thing in society feel constrained by the fear of ending up facing a lawsuit for negligence.

He said his proposed bill, nicknamed 'Sarah', will serve as a signpost from Parliament to courts. “It will set out very simple protections for those people who act in the interests of society, responsibly or heroically.

“It will say to the courts that we want their decisions clearly to take into account whether people have been trying to do the right thing or not. And in particular we want the bill to serve as a deterrent to jobsworths trying to punish people for doing so.”

Grayling proposes that the law be changed so that judges will have to give weight to three additional factors when deciding negligence cases.

They are:

• If the person was doing something for ‘the benefit of society’ – to give weight to the fact people were doing a good deed like volunteering, running an event or trip, or helping out by clearing snow
• If they had been acting in a ‘generally responsible way’ – to make sure the court will give consideration to the fact people may have taken care when organising an activity but an accident has happened
• If they were ‘acting in emergency’ – if they stepped in to help someone in danger but something went wrong.

Grayling said: "I don’t want us to be a society where people feel that they can’t do the right thing for fear of breaking regulations or becoming liable if something goes wrong.

"I don’t want us to be a society where a responsible employer gets the blame for someone doing something stupid. I want a society where common sense is the order of the day, and I believe this measure will help us get there."

Commenting on the proposed law changes, Justin Davis Smith, executive director for volunteering and development at the NCVO, said:

"We continue to get a lot of calls from charities and individual volunteers about risk and liability. The chances of any action being taken against them are very low but there is clearly a great concern about risk. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week, anything that can be done to break down barriers to people getting involved in their communities is very welcome.

"We’re in touch with the Ministry of Justice and will feed in NCVO members’ experiences and concerns. We look forward to seeing the legislation in place and making the spirit of its message clear to all."